The 35mm film which I’ve been using comes from a huge box of movie trailers purchased via e-bay last year. I’ve been applying dots of clear nail polish on frames which line up with accents in the music before bleaching off the emulsion. This leaves traces of the original trailer in these spots.
I’ve been using a trailer for the film “House Bunny” starring Anna Faris who’s actually kinda funny as a playboy bunny who becomes house mother for a sorority . In honor of the film, I watched the full movie last night. Here’s the trailer, see if you can spot the section I used!
I came up with a neat technique yesterday working on a section of the film. Using my finger and q-tip I started smearing the ink just before it’s completly dry. This creates really interesting transitions between images. I’ve looped the clip ( below this detail image ) a few times to give an idea how this looks.
January has been a very productive month for the Direct Animation project. I’m working from the middle out more or less so there are a couple of blank sections in the clip below. These will be filled in whenever I’m ready. I’m enjoying working this way, as opposed to end to end. Each section reflects whatever I’m thinking that day and then requires a bit of visual thinking to link to earlier sections.
Over the summer I began a series of experiments painting and drawing on 35mm film. I’d been seeking a more organic and spontanious process for creating animation (similar to the way I create sculpture) . Below is the first clip of current work in progress as of yet untitled.
I decided for this first piece to find a short piece of music or sound which might supply some interesting opportunities for movement. I was delighted when I came across a piece titled “Is the Night Blue” by The Tape-beatles (also known as “Public Works”). Their works make extensive use of materials appropriated from various sources through a process they call “Plagiarism®” um, I just “plagiarised” that last line from Wikipedia.
After falling in love with the piece I set down to writing a frame by frame transcript. This working document allows me to make the transition to working visually on film.
I’ve been working slowly, using a fine rapidograph and various colored inks. Here’s a section from a strip I’m currently working on.
The whole strip is scanned using my cheapie flatbed, stitched together in Photoshop and then animated in After Effects. In the example video I’ve altered and inverted most of the colors.In my next post I’ll detail some more discoveries and updates on some kinetic sculpture work I’m developing.
We’re starting 2010 with a clean slate AND a good lesson regarding exporting wordpress XML data. Since moving my studio and my last post way back in October I’ve experienced some problems with my database ( my fault ) and have been unable to restore all of the content from last year. I’m kind of excited though as it gives us the chance to plow ahead without looking back.
The bigger and more exciting news, I’m spending time on some fantastic new animation work painting directly on film and will be creating an entirely new body of sculpture work between now and this coming summer for an upcoming show.
As always thanks for your continued support and stay tuned!
